By MELANIE MCFARLAND, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER TELEVISION CRITIC

Published 10:00 pm, Wednesday, January 4, 2006

Jesus is way cool. Everybody loves Jesus. Everybody wants to hang out with him.

Just not necessarily on prime-time television. Specialized cable channels, early a.m. Mass on TV, Jan Crouch's gargantuan hair, we're all for that. But come nighttime, audiences tend to prefer the likes of "NCIS" to INRI.

Otherwise, we'd still be watching CBS's "Joan of Arcadia" or new chapters of "Revelations" on NBC, wouldn't we?

But "Revelations" flopped after last year's midseason debut, and that was that. Months later, "Joan" bit the dust. Even two recent Pope movies didn't do much for CBS or ABC. We like our ghosts to be of the unholy variety, and for Jennifer Love Hewitt to hold sensitive chats with them.

For that reason alone, the future doesn't look bright for "The Book of Daniel." Then consider that NBC's new drama airs Fridays at 9 on KING/5, and has a limited trial period of six episodes. Two blow out tomorrow, and the rest air weekly through Feb. 3; the week after, the Olympics take over.

The network suits can't honestly think we'll remember it following all the figure skating, can they?

Besides, Fridays aren't exactly the night most of us want to think about the God Stuff anyway, even the sort that comes in a riveting, occasionally transcendent package like "Daniel's." People who aren't utterly offended by the premise of a pill-addicted holy man and his family's sexy problems are either watching CBS, cable, DVDs, or out getting drunk and riding a mechanical bull somewhere.

Others simply don't want religion shoved down their throats, although "The Book of Daniel" is less interested in preaching than putting its characters through a gantlet of spiritual tests. Everyone from the church leaders down to the household help has struggles to contend with. The only difference is that our priest, Daniel Webster (played by Aidan Quinn), a descendant of the 19th-century New England statesman, has long, casual chats with a Buddy Christ version of Jesus (Garret Dillahunt). Christ's frequent appearances may or may not be a side effect of Daniel's Vicodin addiction.

Within "Daniel" is the reliable trinity of prime-time entertainment -- sex, scandal and secrets -- as well as the path to redemption. In fact, the priest tells his parishioners that temptation is a good thing, if only to give those who give into it the joy of knowing redemption and forgiveness.

Of greater interest, though, is Daniel's ongoing relationship with Jesus. In his mind, Christ is sort of like God in "Joan of Arcadia," only adopting the classic long hair and white robes look. He's a friend who rides shotgun in the car, who advises and admonishes when the situation warrants, but doesn't judge too harshly.

And thank heaven for that, for in the pastor's home, unbeknownst to most of his parishioners, there are demons. Besides Webster's pill popping, there's his daughter Grace's (Allison Pill) flirtation with dealing pot. His wife, Judith (Susanna Thompson), likes her martinis a little too much and his adopted son Adam (Ivan Shaw), is busy banging the daughter of church pillar Roger Paxton (Dylan Baker). Even church Bishop Beatrice Congreve (Ellen Burstyn) is entangled in an affair with ... we'll leave you to find out with whom.

The only one who isn't getting it on as the series begins is Daniel's gay son, Peter (Christian Campbell), a medical school student who serves as a constant reminder that Daniel and Judith lost a son -- Peter's twin. But these are backdrops to the main crisis. As the series starts, Daniel's brother-in-law is missing, along with millions of dollars in church funds meant to build a new school.

Anyway, trysts shouldn't be the main selling point or turnoff with a show like this, unless you have the limited vision of the conservative American Family Association, which recently let the world know that it despises the series' gay friendliness. For the rest of us, what should win the hour is the way "Daniel" poignantly handles elements that are tougher to pull off, such as the fact that even with such typical, almost cliched family issues, you like the characters almost immediately.

To see a priest like Quinn gives us in Webster, a man whose imperfections show like dust motes on a black clerical robe, is refreshing in the wake of so many portrayals that equate piety with a nearly joyless experience. And as unconventional as Dillahunt's rendition of Jesus may sound, he really isn't all that different to the way spiritual people might imagine he'd be.

Lacking the heart Quinn and Dillahunt bring to their roles, it would be tougher to stomach Thompson and even Pill, who makes Grace a little too deadpan to buy at times. But Quinn brings out the softness in them, and his performance pairs well with Burstyn's and even Shaw's, who plays the petulant brat a little too well.

Still, you don't have to be a football fan to recognize a Hail Mary pass when you see it. Although this series borders on terrific at times and falters in others, it may not get the chance to realize its full potential.

Should "Book" win enough viewers to meet or beat the ratings of shows that have gone before it, that should be reason enough for NBC to keep Daniel Webster around. It would be nice if "Book of Daniel" takes "7th Heaven's" chair when it finally gets up from the table at the end of the season.